"1046: Type was not found" for a custom class calling a custom class

Question

This should be easy... but I've spent two days on nothing but this error.... I am absolutely at my wit's end.
Basically, I've got a "character" container linked to a MovieClip in the library that is supposed to act as a container for various body parts; head, shirt, pants, etc. For simplicity, I've just got Character class and Head class, both in a "char" package, both classes are named the same as their respective files (Character.as and Head.as, both in an actual file called "char"). Character class is supposed to create an instance of Head, but I always get this 1046 error. The problem is that I've got other body parts with nearly identical classes that ARENT throwing a 1046 error and are working just fine. I went and made a new project to see if I was still having the problem with just character calling 1 simple body part. I do.
In the symbol properties, it's Exported for Actionscript & Export in Frame 1... the class is "char.Head" and "char.Character" respectively. I have tried everything I can find or think of, I've done dozens of Google searches and sifted through dozens of forums. I can't find anything and I've been working on this problem for 24 straight working hours now. I'm completely exasperated......
package char {
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.display.Stage;
import flash.display.Sprite;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.geom.ColorTransform;
import fl.motion.Color;
import char.Head;
public class Character extends MovieClip {
// 1046: Type was not found or was not a compile-time constant: Head
private var _head:Head;
// reference to get the stage later
private var stageRef:Stage;
public function Character(stageRef:Stage=null) {
trace("NEW CHARACTER");
//1180 Call to a possibly undefined method Head;
_head=new Head();
And here's the contents of Head.as
package char {
import flash.display.MovieClip;
import flash.events.Event;
import flash.display.Stage;
import flash.geom.ColorTransform;
public class Head extends MovieClip {
private var skin_type:uint;
public function Head() {
trace ("NEW HEAD");
Now if I declare the head variable and create a new instance of it in my document class, no problem whatsoever. If I do it in my Character class, it just doesn't stop giving me this error!!! Somebody please help me.
1046: Type was not found or was not a compile-time constant: Head
1180 Call to a possibly undefined method Head;

Answer 1

There is a blank movieclip named Character in the library, yup.
Also in my main handler for my document class calls "mainCharacter = new Character(); "
Here's a chunk of the code from the document class. For the record, it calls "head" as just a test and that works fine. Just doesn't work in "Character"
import char.Character;
import char.Head;
public class MainHandler extends MovieClip {
private static var _instance:MainHandler;
public static function get instance():MainHandler { return _instance; }
public var mainCharacter:Character;
public var head_:Head;
public function MainHandler() {
_instance = this;
mainCharacter = new Character();
head_=new Head();